Obama Administration officials outlined the threat to international trade stemming from data localization laws in foreign countries, at a Brookings Institution event Thursday (here). Some countries have sought to restrict the flow of data across borders in reaction to NSA surveillance activities revealed by former contractor Edward Snowden, said Richard Salgado, Google law enforcement and information security legal director. Those policies can harm the U.S. economy and hamper the open Internet standards the administration seeks to secure, said administration officials.
Russia export controls and sanctions
The use of export controls and sanctions on Russia has surged since the country's invasion of Crimea in 2014, and especially its invasion of Ukraine in in February 2022. Similar export controls and sanctions have been imposed by U.S. allies, including the EU, U.K. and Japan. The following is a listing of recent articles in Export Compliance Daily on export controls and sanctions imposed on Russia:
The Commerce Department announced its final determinations in the antidumping duty investigations on grain-oriented electrical steel from China, South Korea and Russia, and the countervailing duty investigation on GOES from China, in a fact sheet issued Sept. 25. The agency calculated AD rates of 159.21% for China, 3.68% for South Korea, and 68.98%-119.88% for Russia, as well as CV duty rates of 127.69% for all Chinese exporters. The next step is the International Trade Commission’s final injury determination, currently scheduled for Nov. 10. If the ITC finds injury, Commerce will make duties permanent by issuing AD and CV duty orders.
The controls imposed by the Obama administration on U.S. defense and dual-use exports to Russia are most likely to impact the civilian aerospace industry, but tangible impacts won’t be felt until next year, said Daniel Russell, president of the U.S.-Russia Business Council, during a Sept. 25 National Foreign Trade Council event. The April export control sanctions affect only new licenses, so the existing licenses are still able to run their course (see 14042812). The controls target high-tech item sales to sanctioned companies and “tighten” restrictions on sales that could be provided to the Russian military, said Russell. “Russia is a huge market for civilian aircraft,” he said. “Boeing … [United Technology Corporation] … all the usual suspects … are the ones who are most heavily vested there and certainly the export controls will have an impact on that, but I think on the civilian side.”
In the Sept. 23-24 editions of the Official Journal of the European Union, the following trade-related notices were posted:
On Sept. 12-17 the Foreign Agricultural Service posted the following GAIN reports:
The U.S.-led sanctions packages put on Russia in recent days and months break World Trade Organization rules, but offer an opportunity to further develop Russian domestic industry, said Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sept. 18. Both the U.S. and European Union put into force another series of sanctions in recent days that target the Russian defense, financial and energy sectors (see 14091503). “Limits introduced against Russia are none other than a rejection by some of our partners of basic WTO principles," Putin told a government meeting, according to local media. "In taking responsive measures, we first of all think about our own interests regarding the task of development and protecting our producers and markets from unfair competition." He also said Russia will not retaliate against the Western measures through more Russian sanctions. Ukraine recently passed a law to give more autonomy in contested areas, but the U.S. has repeatedly said Russia continues to fuel conflict in the country (here).
A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the Commerce Department posted to CBP's website Sept. 12-17, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching for the listed CBP message number at http://adcvd.cbp.dhs.gov/adcvdweb.
The European Union issued the following trade-related releases Sept. 17-18 (notices of most significance will be given separate headlines):
The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices for Sept. 15 (note that some may also be given separate headlines).
The European Union asked the World Trade Organization to resolve a dispute with Russia over antidumping duties on light commercial van exports, Reuters reported in recent days. The vans are exported from Germany and Italy. Russia levels a 29.6 percent duty on German vans and 23 percent duty on the Italian products, said Reuters. The EU started the consultation process with Russia in May (here), and the WTO request indicates the talks did not yield compromise.